13 consecutive days without sunspots.
This in a report yesterday (Wed 14th Oct 2009) at SpaceWeather.com entitled ‘Deep Quiet’. Today will be the 14th such day and there is no sign at the moment of when this streak might be broken.
So far this year, the sun has been spotless 79% of the time, topping the 73% mark recorded in 2008. Cycle 24 seems to be a long time coming and there have been a few false dawns. Long after many forecasters thought that solar minimum would be finished, the quiet is not only continuing, but actually deepening. So much so that some are now asking “are sunspots gone for good?”, as this article on the NASA website explains.
Opinion is divided - those suggesting a decline say that “sunspot magnetic fields are dropping by about 50 gauss per year, if we extrapolate this trend into the future, sunspots could completely vanish around the year 2015″ whereas those with a more positive outlook say that “other indications of solar activity suggest that sunspots must return in earnest within the next year.”
I for one am hoping that the optimists are proved to be correct in their assessment rather than those predicting a gradual decline. Shortwave propagation is much improved when there are lots of sunspots and those of us with modest antennas really need all the help we can get!
Update, October 16th 2009: Make that 15 days without sunspots…and counting.